Kog'Maw/Strategy
Champion Spotlight Recommended Items Tips ;Playing As * can outrange most champions with his ability. * Use to set up a perfect . * Make the most out of your . ;Playing Against * doesn't have a good escape ability, so he's especially prone to ganks. * Run away from . * The range on increases each rank. * allows to kill extremely early. It can be valuable to ward when completes his . Tricks ;Ability Usage * is the skill that you'll want to get at level 1, and most of the time you'll be maxing this skill first. Bio-Arcane Barrage allows you to outrange almost every other ADC in the game (with a few exceptions like ). This allows you to not only farm safetly, but also allows you to get in some damage early on in the lane if you can catch the ADC you're going against off guard. During team fights you'll want to play around this skill, if Bio-Arcane Barrage is down then you are going to have a hard time doing your full damage. That's why you'll want to ping this ability if it's down, and also only use it once the teamfight starts for sure. As AP Kog'Maw, this skill is maxed last, as with this build, Kog'Maw relires more on his abilities than his basic attacks. * is the skill that you'll want to get at level 2, and most of the times you'll be maxing this skill second. During laning phase you can use this to poke minions that are just out of your auto range if you don't want to risk getting closer due to the risk of getting caught out and dying. However once you're fighting somebody you'll want to throw this ability first due to the Armor and Magic Resist shred so that both you and your teammates will be able to do more damage. As AP Kog'Maw, this skill is your third main source of damage, but you aren't using this a lot due to it being single target. Max it second. * is the skill that you'll want to get at level 3, and you'll almost always be maxing this skill last. Other than throwing this ability behind you when you're running away and throwing it at someone that is running away from a teamfight this skill isn't used that much. The mana cost is too high for it to be useful to farm with during laning phase for the little damage that it deals (unless you're going full AP). It's Kog's only self peel however so it is worth getting at level 3, but you'll almost never max this ability first or second. As AP Kog'Maw, however, it is your bread and butter ability, providing waveclear and long ranged poke, so it should always be maxed first. * is a long range AOE skillshot that has execute scalings. If your opponent has high HP this ability doesn't do that much damage. However, once they fall super low the damage from this is surprising and you can catch people off guard with how much damage this deals. Although be careful about casting this a lot quickly since the increased mana cost can catch up to you super fast if you're not paying attention and suddenly you don't have enough mana for your W and a teamfight breaks out. ;Rune Usage * has the second highest DPS late game and the highest DPS early to mid game since it also increases your teammate's damage in teamfights once you auto the same target 3 times. Since you're Kog'Maw and will be attacking fast Press the Attack procs in only a second or two which makes it very useful if you need some burst damage. * gives you the most damage late game as it allows Kog'Maw to get back up to 3.5-4.0 attack speed. With the on-hit build that you would go with Lethal Tempo Kog ends up doing an insane amount of mixed damage that allows you to melt anyone. This rune is good to take if you know that your team will be able to protect you during teamfights as it is very difficult to orb-walk once you trigger lethal tempo so you will be standing in one place for most of the teamfight. * is good if you're looking for a sustain build. If you take this Rune on Kog'Maw you'll want to have your first item be and then continuing on the normal Kog'Maw build path. You would take this rune if you know that you'll get poked super hard in lane and you want to stay in lane to farm later. Compared to Press the Attack and Lethal Tempo the DPS of Fleet Footwork is almost 0 however so you wont be doing as much damage in teamfights as if you took the other runes. * is the new version of . If you're good at Orb-Walking on Kog'Maw and are confident in your positioning during teamfights this rune can also be considered an option to take. This rune also is almost a must have if you know that your team wont be able to peel for you in teamfights as the extra boost of movement speed allows you to re position easily during teamfights. * is a good mastery to use if you are playing AP Kog'Maw, as it complements his poke and with slowing enemies, it is easier to hit. ;Item Usage * is an essential item to build on Kog'Maw as his is one of the strongest on hit effects in the game, and Rageblade allows every other auto to trigger this effect twice. The bonus AP would normally be useless on an ADC, however all of Kog'Maw's abilites have AP scalings which makes this item one of the first items that Kog'Maw normally builds. * is peharps the best item to get on ADC Kog'Maw as it gives him everything he wants. Attack speed, AD, lifesteal, and an on-hit effect that deals physical damage based on the enemy's current health, which has synergy with since it deals magic damage based on their max health. Once Kog'Maw finish this item, it becomes incredibly difficult for the enemy to itemize against him, as he deals a lot of hybrid damage that can't be countered by stacking health. * is sometimes built as a first item due to the fact that Kog'Maw struggles heavily against high poke enemy laners. The extra magic resist allows him to survive longer in lane, and the passive allows his to deal more even into the late game as the on hit effect applies as Magic Damage. * is useful, as it allows Kog'Maw to attack three enemies at once with his on-hit effects, while also giving him waveclear. * can allow Kog'Maw to heal off his on-hit effects, and can be an alternative to against less tanky teams. Keep in mind that the AP helps Kog'Maw with his abilities and Guinsoo's Rageblade both scaling off AP. * is a potential defensive item on Kog'Maw. It gives him HP and a bit of AD, while the slow on-hit allows him to not only make it harder for enemies to escape from his attacks, but also helps with kiting. *AP Kog'Maw is a viable playstyle that sacrifices raw sustained damage for long ranged poke, with a playstyle very similar to and . ** allows Kog'Maw to spam his abilities a lot more, and late game, it gives a shield which helps against dive attempts. ** can be built to help Kog'Maw better hit . ** is recommended since Kog'Maw has high base damages on his abilities, but not very high AP scalings. It also benefits his , an advantage that AP Kog'Maw has over his hybrid on-hit counterpart. ** If you still want to engage into an auto-attacking playstyle, is a viable item, as it synergizes with and can make Kog'Maw reach the max of 40% cooldown reduction when combined with . ;Countering * Generally speaking, itemizing defensively against Kog'Maw is hard. He is geared towards killing tanks with his hybrid damage, damage based on max health, and ability to shred enemy's resistances with his . ** Despite this, works well against Kog'Maw. Half of his damage is magic, and sustained. This item prevents tanks from being killed as quickly, by significantly reducing the magic damage from Kog'Maw's kit. ** works against Kog'Maw due to him being heavy auto attack reliant, but keep in mind that Kog'Maw tend to not build as much sustain as other ADCs, so the Grievous Wounds part is not as important against him. Thornmail also doesn't deal as much damage after the changes. It is still important as it counters Blade of the Ruined King, which is a common item to build on Kog'Maw. * He is also surprisingly hard to outduel as a DPS champion unless you can disable him from auto-attacking, because the same tools that allow Kog'Maw to kill tanks are the same tools that allow him to outduel champions like enemy ADCs. However, Kog'Maw has no mobility and weaker defensive abilities compared to other on-hit ADCs such as , , and . ** For this reason it is recommended to use assassins or burst mages. Assassins like , , , , or are the bane of Kog'Maw, as they can burst him down before he can even put any sort of damage. They have the mobility needed to reach Kog'Maw and outplay him as they please. Burst mages like , , or can also kill Kog'Maw very quickly; they tend to not be mobile but they have the range advantage. *** Keep in mind that it is exactly because of Kog'Maw's extreme vulnerability to burst damage, that he tends to be paired with enchanter supports like or , which are counters to the aforementioned assassins and burst mages, as they can prevent Kog'Maw from being bursted to begin with. Keep that in mind when counterpicking Kog'Maw. ** Kog'Maw is also very vulnerable to CC, especially displacements. Despite being a tank, works very well for that reason: can knockup Kog and lock him down to allow his teammates to kill Kog. can heavily cripple Kog'Maw as he is extremely reliant on auto-attacks. Champions like and or that can cripple Kog'Maw. ** Alternatively you can prey on Kog'Maw's weak early game. Without items, Kog'Maw can easily fall behind. He also lacks waveclear (without items like or ) and utility. If he can't deal enough damage, he is useless. It is a viable strategy to camp Kog'Maw with strong early game junglers like the aforementioned or with early game ADCs/supports like , which can zone Kog'Maw from farming as he has no way to escape if he gets grabbed. ** Some ADCs are still capable of dealing with Kog'Maw. For example, can two-shot Kog'Maw before the latter can kill him. can come invisible and use his to kill Kog'Maw in seconds without him being able to respond. is capable of dueling Kog'Maw if she can him into a wall; she can also duel Kog regardless if she has as that item reduces Kog's percentage magic damage, but Kog'Maw can do nothing to reduce Vayne's percentage true damage. ** in particular is extremely dangerous to Kog'Maw during the late game, as she can lock down him and prevent him from escaping, leaving him extremely vulnerable. If he is not paired with champions that can knockback Camille, he is doomed. can somewhat do the same thing, and can even easily burst down Kog'Maw with a full AD build. However, Kog'Maw can flash out of J4's ult. ** Finally, divers and skirmishers like and can also deal with Kog'Maw. Jax is able to dodge Kog'Maw's auto-attacks with , letting him take way less damage when trying to dive and kill Kog, while also stunning him and making him an easy prey. As for Master Yi, the moment he engages on Kog'Maw, he out-DPS and kill Kog quickly. He can't be slowed by due to making him immune to slows. * AP Kog'Maw is different because instead of being an hypercarry with extreme sustained damage capable of taking out even hypertanks, he instead plays as an artillery mage, like or ; his job is to deal heavy amounts of damage from a distance where enemies can't reach him. However, like ADC Kog'Maw, AP Kog'Maw is very vulnerable to hard engage and to assassins. ** AP Kog'Maw is also a lot less capable of dealing with tanks, as he rarely builds attack speed ( is a rare item to build on AP Kog'Maw). Also, because he focus entirely on his magic damage and deals no relevant physical damage, it is safer to itemize against him. Build magic resistance items like or . ** Like Xerath and Ziggs, AP Kog'Maw tends to deal well with shorter ranged mages such as , , or , that have little hope of closing the gap against Kog'Maw and have to eat all his poke. However, he is vulnerable to assassins like , , or , as they can close the gap and kill Kog'Maw quickly, while dodging most of his poke with their mobility. ru:Ког'Мао/Strategy Category:Champion strategies Category:Kog'Maw